Perseids and Aquarids in one fell swoop!

[mamselle]

Who's up for meteor-gazing?

Who's seen meteors before that they remember?

In the NE area this site is helpful:

   https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/double-meteor-shower-tonight-over-ma-skies-how-watch

Others?

I'm debating whether to stay up late or get up early.

The latter sounds like the better ploy given the moon's presence...

You?

M.

[Juvenal]

I was lying on my back in a field outside Tallahassee in November of 1966 and caught the end (day began to come) of the great display of the Leonids, in the greatest meteor storm of the 20th C.  I saw about a thousand.  Folks farther west, where darkness lasted longer than in the east, saw a jaw-dropping display.  It's not that the night was longer in Arizona, but that the peak of the display was very narrow in time, and by peak, dawn, sweeping westwards, had already come to Florida).

I also set out in 1998 and 1999 to see if the Leonids would repeat their 33-year cycle as was predicted likely.  Well, there were more than the Perseids, but no great show.  For me.  Others, elsewhere, had more luck, but nowhere was it like 1966.

I have gotten up to look at the Perseids from time to time over fifty-plus years--front yard, back yard, top of a roof, on a leaching field in NH (that was the best display because the sky was utterly clear, moonless, and no town or city lights for many miles; 1991).  Nowadays, in a light-polluted metro area, rich in obscuring trees, I hardly bother.  I step out and wait until I've seen one or two, and that's my honoring of the commitment to observe.  I am now mostly an armchair observer of the Universe.  It needs some work.

[fast_and_bulbous]

Ooh, and related, Jupiter and the moon are super close together tonight, right by Antares: LINKY DINKY DOO

Hmm, maybe we need a stargazing thread :)

[mamselle]

Sounds like a good idea...or this thread could just expand its identity a bit....

M.

[Juvenal]

The delta Aquariids are not as strong a shower as the Perseids, and their peak was over a week ago; the Perseids peak the night of the 12th/13th, but the near full moon will "dim the spectacle" by being so bright the tracks of the meteors will be less prominent or washed out. Some Perseids have short trails and can be on the faint side and moonlight will not help.  But why not try?

You won't see anything quite as good as this meteor, however:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhNL-YJFxOM

The most impressive meteor in decades, showing what a 20 m rock coming in at 60,000 km/h can do.  And the conditions were near perfect for this view: dawn coming but not all that far along so the meteor stood out well against something other than a black sky, absolutely clear sky nicely contrasting with the dark foreground, car luckily motionless at a stoplight, enough sun at the meteor's height to bring out the dust trail of the disintegrating meteoroid. Of all the other videos of the Chelyabinsk meteor, this is the best I've seen. Then the shock wave, not "seen" here, but in other videos quite an aftermath.

[mamselle]

Interesting link.

I noticed (and then saw in the comments that others had likewise noted) the fact that the passers-by just kept on passing by....no response, no apparent awareness....that was weird.

I think I might have just at least looked over my shoulder...

M.

[mamselle]

Double a day later....

Clearly, my subconscious wants to get up...I awoke at 2 am today, but couldn't recall why, in my fuzzy, sleep-brained state, I might want to dress and go outside, so I didn't.

Planning on it tonight, though, the last 4 days weren't good for various reasons...hoping to climb up to a hill where a local group sometimes hangs out for stargazing, to "see what I see..."

Early to bed after folk dance should be easy....or maybe I'll just stay up all night...

M.

[clean]

bookmarking
I dont think that I will get out tonight. It is too hot here, even at night.  It was in the 80s at 1 am this morning! 
Also the moon is supposed to be full, if I remember correctly.

[mamselle]

Double a day later....

Clearly, my subconscious wants to get up...I awoke at 2 am today, but couldn't recall why, in my fuzzy, sleep-brained state, I might want to dress and go outside, so I didn't.

Planning on it tonight, though, the last 4 days weren't good for various reasons...hoping to climb up to a hill where a local group sometimes hangs out for stargazing, to "see what I see..."

Early to bed after folk dance should be easy....or maybe I'll just stay up all night...

M.

Up late finishing something, so I went out to look at the sky.

Cloud cover. Solid. NO openings.

Humph...

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

I'm looking, but no luck so far. I'll try tomorrow under better human conditions.

[cathwen]

I went out last night (even set my alarm, since I usually go to bed on the early side), but thanks to the usual New England nightly cloud cover, the only thing I could see was the moon.  Sigh.

[mamselle]

Exactly.

There are clear skies, I've seen 'em! But not last night.

Trying again tonight.

M.

[mamselle]

So, a G1-G2 storm may provide us with some aurora borealis (plural?) later this weekend.

(Should we do a more general star/Skygazing thread, or stick with this one?)

M.

[Thursday's_Child]

If only I was far enough north to see them....

Also, if it's clear, look for faint purple above the normal sunset colors.  Two volcanoes dumped ash/gases into the stratosphere this summer & the effects still linger.  I'm reasonably sure I saw it this morning, right as the last stars were fading out - a red-purple zone above the brightening bands of dawn.

[mamselle]

Hmm, thanks, will do.

I recall the effects of Krakatoa and Mt. St. Helena on sunsets and sunrises...also forest fires at times.

M.